It’s a project dripping with equal parts symbolism — Modi, the devout Hindu, restoring the ancient connection between two religious icons — and political calculation. The project is also part of a larger Hindu nationalist effort to erase evidence of India’s diverse past. The Vishwanath project is part of a broader campaign to downplay the Muslim Mughal dynasty’s place in Indian history. Thus, Modi’s messaging around the Vishwanath temple project is hard to miss. But the temple project is a BJP-led effort to stamp India’s Hindu mores onto a multicultural society, historians and political scientists say.

Source: Washington Post April 07, 2019 06:22 UTC